


WOY Mini-Fic-A-Thon 2016 - With A Little Help From My Enemies

by 3amepiphany



Series: Woy Mini-Fic-A-Thon 2016 [7]
Category: Wander Over Yonder
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-03
Updated: 2016-07-03
Packaged: 2018-07-19 22:47:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7380568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3amepiphany/pseuds/3amepiphany
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shoehorning this one in because we don't get to see the dust settle at all at the end of the whole mess.</p>
            </blockquote>





	WOY Mini-Fic-A-Thon 2016 - With A Little Help From My Enemies

**Author's Note:**

> http://omegalovaniac.tumblr.com/post/146864655119/sylvia-and-lord-hater-or-peepers-and-wander
> 
> To submit a prompt: http://omegalovaniac.tumblr.com/post/146847513034/woy-mini-fic-a-thon

The first thing Sylvia did when all was said and done and she had a quiet moment to spare with him, was thank him, because in all honesty there was no way she would have been standing there at the end of it all in one piece if it hadn’t been for him. She approached him with a hand outstretched, and a smile on her face. And she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t shaking a bit. Not out of fear but of joy.

Lord Hater regarded her quietly for a moment, and she was very well ready for him to fall right back on a bad joke or a lame out on this to save face, but he didn’t. He took her hand, and he shook it, and to her complete surprise, he pulled her into a hug. And it wasn’t a cheapy, pat-pat-good-job-and-release sort of hug, but a solid, crushing bearish hug that she could kind of tell he wasn’t used to giving, because a strained “Okay, okay, Hater, you’re hurting me just a bit,” slipped out of her mouth and he quickly apologized, and let her go. He looked around to see if anyone had seen that, pulling the edge of his hood down over his face a bit.

“Sorry,” he said. “It just felt right.”

“It wasn’t bad, but you need some practice,” she told him, smirking. “Thank you, though. Truly.” He mumbled something, and she bent in to hear him, but had to ask him to repeat himself.

“Why did you cheer for me?”

She thought back to the party they’d had on the Skull Ship, and how happy he’d been to be a part of something pleasant and exciting without having to intimidate or force others into it; she thought about that time they picked him up from the dentist by accident and gave them a pure and joyful afternoon of entertainment, as weird as that had been. She thought about how jazzed and hyped Hater was when they finally got the Robomechabotatron up and running harmoniously.

She also thought about Wander, and how he’d spent this whole time not just trying to make friends with Hater but to convince him that he was worthy of having friends and that it was okay to want and have them.

Sylvia looked over her shoulder as her best friend in the galaxy was being congratulated and hugged and apologized to by everyone that had wanted to take up arms instead of holding out their arms in friendship. It really wasn’t lost on her, the sheer absurdity that kindness derailed the day long enough just to save it. How close they’d all been to actually being vaporized. Last stands almost never ended well. This was a grop-danged miracle, really. There were so many tired smiles, especially Wander’s, but they were still smiles. There was still hope and love here at the end of this galaxy.

“She’s a bully. And you don’t let bullies get away with giving your friends snot,” she settled on saying. She studied the look on his face quietly as she said this, and he hesitated in saying something, and then decided to keep it to himself anyways. It was still hard for him, he was still coming to terms with being piled upon by everyone and thanked and welcomed and celebrated.

It was probably going to be like that for a long while, still. She’d been the same way. You can’t quite take it all in at once, it was overwhelming and you’re not used to it. But then you tolerate it, and you let it happen without resisting it so much, and then you find that it’s what you want and what you need, and you can’t get enough of it. Sylvia couldn’t quite speak towards being evil, but she imagined that it worked the same way, and she’d been well on course to go from morally ambivalence to moral ambiguity when Wander showed up. Hater was further off than she was. But Wander had said, “it’s never too late,” and she believed it, even if it took her some time and a little effort to come around to it.

“I guess,” he said.

She wasn’t exactly sure how else she could frame it without reminding him of their rivalry and his attempts to execute them in his own bullying, and wind up cutting this happy day short. She kind of liked sheepish, humble Hater. He was pretty tolerable. “Listen, Hater, I know he’s weird. That’s just how he is. But he does believe in you. After today, I know I do. They might, too.” Gesturing at the crowd, she smiled. “In his own weird way, Peepers always has, too. Wouldn’t you consider him to be your best friend?”

Upon hearing his name, Peepers stepped away from looking at the inner workings of one of Dom’s bots and came back to join them.. “Zbornak,” he said, folding his hands behind his back and giving her a short nod.

Hater looked down at him, and shrugged. “I could, I mean, he’s kind of weird, too.”

“I’m sorry, sir?”

“Nothing, Peepers, don’t worry about it.”

Sylvia rolled her eyes, grinning full out, now. “Well. Weird or not, Hater,” she said, backing up now, intent on collecting Wander and finding out what the situation was on the refugee effort.

As she turned away, she heard them talking. “Peepers?” said Hater.

Peepers responded with a still sprightly and curt “Yes, sir?”

“You did good out here today. You were pretty great.”

“We got by. But now what?”

She shook her head. Now what, indeed.


End file.
